Pink Carnations
by pierulestheworld
Summary: Cosette Fauchelevent met Jean Prouvaire for the first time in daycare when they were four.
1. Chapter 1

Cosette Fauchelevent met Jean Prouvaire for the first time in daycare when they were four.

Cosette and her mother had just moved to town and Fantine needed someone to watch her daughter while she worked. She didn't trust the Thenardiers across the hall— or, really, anyone in their complex. So Fantine went and found the nearest respectable-looking daycare, and enrolled Cosette in it.

Cosette's first day at day care was sunny and bright, so at lunch, the caretaker let the young children eat outside. Cosette was enjoying her sandwich when she heard someone sniffling from somewhere behind her. Looking around, she saw a cute little girl with curly white hair and big grey eyes with tears coming out of them silently. Whenever Cosette cried, her mama would come and hug her, so Cosette got up to comfort the other girl.

She looked up to stare blankly at Cosette when she sat down and hugged her. The girl rubbed her eyes and leaned into it. Cosette smiled at her and asked "Why are you crying?"

"Some of the others were makin' fun of me. I's nothin'." Her words were slightly slurred from crying.

Cosette frowned. Her mama always told her making fun of others was bad and mean.

"Who?"

"No one."

"Who?"

She relented, "Tomas and Francis."

Cosette frowned and got up. "I'll be right back."

She marched across the playground to where a group of boys were sitting and eating. She stood in front of them with her hands on her hips. "Who is Tomas and Francis?"

All of them glanced over but only two of the heads stayed on her.

Cosette got right to the point. "Why are you making fun of 'em?" She turned around and pointed at the other child who was no longer crying but staring at Cosette with wide eyes.

"Cause he dresses wrongly! My dad says it ain't right and my dad is always right so it's OK."

Cosette blinked in shock at the girl actually being a boy but carried on. "So? That doesn't mean to make fun of people. It's not right. Your daddy is wrong."

The boy angrily stood up. "Take that back right now! My dad is always right!"

"No."

The older boy towered over her but Cosette wasn't scared. She had seen lots of characters of TV defend their friends and Cosette knew what to do.

She pulled her arm back and punched him in the face.

The teacher ran over as the boy screamed and Cosette rubbed her hand.

Cosette's mother was called, and Fantine was disappointed, but when Cosette was leaving the daycare, a small boy gave her a small smile and she knew she had made a friend.

-x-

Cosette and Jean—later self-nicknamed Jehan—were inseparable after that. The day after Cosette had punched the boy, and after she had spent the morning in time-out, the boy she had fought for came up to her and introduced himself as Jean.

You never saw one without the other after that.

-x-

When they were seven and Cosette's mama got sick enough to be warranted a place in the hospital, she stayed with Jehan and his mother.

When Fantine died, the first thing Cosette did was throw herself into Jehan's arms and cry for three days straight.

When she moved in with her last living relative, a nice old uncle named Jean Valjean, she was thankful he lived nearby; she didn't know what she would do without Jehan.

When they were twelve and Jehan began to get bullied for wearing girl clothes and his hair long, he turned to Cosette and she hugged him.

When Jehan came up to her with scissors and asked her to cut his hair, she frowned, but she did it.

When she found him with a bruise on his arm, she marched him up to his mom and let her yell at the school's principal for letting people bruise her son.

When they were fourteen and found out one day during the summer before their freshman year that Jehan would be moving to another state, they were heartbroken.

When Jehan was forced to pack up all his stuff Cosette helped him and they both did it in silence.

When she waved as they drove away, she waited until they were long gone until dragging herself to her house and crying the whole night into her pillow.

When they were fourteen and high school began, they didn't talk to each other as frequently, it was taking its toll on both of them hard.

When Cosette's calls from Jehan went from daily to weekly to only every so often, she didn't cry, but she was sadder than usual, worrying Valjean.

When she was so stressed from homework and thought of calling Jehan to unwind, she had to sadly put down the phone when an automated female voice saying _this number has been disconnected_ sounded in her ears.


	2. Chapter 2

Cosette found Jehan again when they were 22 and Cosette was working in a small college bakery.

She had worked there several weeks now and the owner, a nice woman named Musichetta, was letting her work Thursday afternoons. A big group had their meetings every Thursday at the café and Musichetta had thought she was proficient enough working in the café to serve them when they had their meeting.

Cosette was nervous. She wanted to do well and make Musichetta proud—the woman had taken Cosette under her wing and helped her out so much. She shook her head when she heard the bell above the door ring and three men walked in. Cosette smiled at them and inwardly sighed in relief to herself. Courfeyrac came in every morning to get some highly caffeinated concoction, and Enjolras and Combeferre came in every so often to get a coffee and a bagel.

Courfeyrac practically skipped to the counter while Enjolras and Combeferre went to the back of the room and began pushing tables and chairs together. "Hi Cosette!"

She smiled at him, "Hey Courfeyrac, the usual for you three?"

Courfeyrac grinned wider and nodded. He hummed and looked around and noticed where the pastries were on display before turning back to face Cosette. "Can I also have some of that chocolate cake please?"

Cosette laughed and got to making his order.

Over the next 20 minutes, others trickled in. Cosette was happy to see she knew most of them. The two boys Musichetta was dating, that one boy that was always blushing and the girl who followed him and glared at Cosette for some reason. By 7: 30, everyone but one had apparently come in. The nine men and one woman were noisily talking amongst themselves when the last girl—no wait guy, ran in with a vaguely embarrassed smile and an apologetic _sorry for being late_. Cosette frowned. She hadn't seen him in the café before, but the freckles and long blonde hair reminded her of someone.

He set his bag down at the long table before coming up to the counter with a small smile. "Hi! You must be the new girl Musichetta hired. She's said a lot of good things about you. Although she likes having all us boys around, having another girl around the café has been a treat for her."

Cosette blushed. "That's nice to hear; I like talking to her too, never had many girl friends during school. Ah, what's your order?"

He looked confused then laughed. "Oh yea, I came up here to order something. I'll have some tea and a slice of the chocolate cake."

"Coming up."

After giving him the food, she was surprised when he stayed at the counter to talk.

He told her that he had wanted to meet Musichetta's new friend and, shocking her, the object of blushing boy's, or Marius, affections. They were interrupted when Courfeyrac yelled from across the room, "Stop flirting with the barista and get over here Jehan!"

Cosette stopped in shock. Jehan? It could be a coincidence, but how many people out there could be named Jehan? _That's why he looks familiar_, thought Cosette, _same hair, same freckles, same nose… Oh my god. I found Jehan_. _Oh my god_.

She snapped back to reality and saw Jehan staring at her. "Are you OK?"

"Is your name Jean Prouvaire?" Cosette leaned forward and asked urgently.

He tilted his head to the side. "Yes..?"

Cosette slumped down onto the counter and dimly realized there were tears in her eyes. "Oh my god."

"Are you OK?" he asked again, leaning down to look at her. She looked up and was dimly aware of the others in the café standing up and staring at her from across the room. She turned back to Jehan and tried to match him to the 14 year old she had last saw.

"It's me, Cosette. Remember?"

His face was blank and for a moment, Cosette was scared. What if he didn't remember? Eight years _was_ a long time and you could forget someone easily. She was terrified of that happening. What if she was the only one to remember? What if he did forget all about her and all the memories they had together? What if she had found her best friend but he didn't even remember ever knowing her?

And then his mouth went slack and his eyes widened and he let out a whispered _oh my god_ of his own.

Cosette ran out from behind the counter and tackled him to the ground. Everyone else looked on in confusion as Cosette and Jehan lay hugging each other on the ground, both laughing and crying.

-x-

Once the two picked themselves off the floor and wiped the tears off their faces, they spent the rest of the night leaning over the counter catching up on eight years worth of memories.

Jehan told her about how after a long talk with his mother between 9th and 10th grade, he managed to get the courage to grow his hair out again and wear his trademark bad clothes.

Cosette told him about how her cat Bella had given birth to several litters of kittens and she had managed to get her father to let her keep them all.

They shared all the stories of high school escapades, (neither of them had many of them, they didn't exactly have many friends) of how their parents cried at graduation (even if Valjean would deny it later).

Jehan positively glowed when he talked about running into Les Amis in his freshman year of college and gushed about how he loved all of his new friends.

Cosette told him about how she had wanted to try living on her own and how she had transferred to this college the year before.

They both paused when the group at the back got up and began to leave the café. They hadn't realized they had been talking for hours.

Jehan walked Cosette home that night and they talked at her apartment until the both of them fell asleep on top of each other.

Cosette woke to the smell of pancakes and walked into the kitchen to find Jehan making slightly burnt pancakes, and she smiled sleepily as a warm feeling moved through her chest.

-x-

Autumn became winter, and winter became spring. Over those months, Jehan and Cosette grew as close as they had been as children.

Cosette loved being around Jehan again. Whenever she saw him walk into the room she felt a rush of excitement run through her and she would immediately go to where he was. The way they were together felt different then it had when they were younger, but she put that to the eight years they were apart. It wasn't until April until she realized that the feelings she always felt near him was something more than friendship.

They were sitting in a secluded area in the park they frequented, books and journals open as they sprawled in the grass ignoring them. The end of the year was coming up and they should be studying, but how could one study when the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and flowers were just waiting to be picked and made into crowns?

Cosette giggled as she wrapped a daisy chain around her wrist and tied it together in a messy knot. You weren't exactly supposed to pick the flowers, but no one ever came into their corner of the park and the flowers were just begging to be picked and made into jewelry. She had been hard at work for the past half hour, making chains of all the flowers and weeds she could get. Cosette's head, wrists, and ankles were covered in plants.

She looked up and caught her breath. She had been so wrapped up in making as many flower chains as possibly that she had completely forgotten about Jehan. He was staring just as intensely as she had been moments before down at his ankle as he wrapped a half completed chain around it to see how many more flowers he needed.

Cosette stared and tilted her head and wondered why it felt like she was seeing him clearly for the first time. They had been making flower chains together for weeks now and she had never been overcome by emotions. There was just something about Jehan's gaze as he tried to measure out the right amount of dandelions to make the anklet long enough. It made her want to go over there and crush him in a hug and kiss that scrunched up face away and _where did that thought come from_?

Cosette looked down and blushed and _oh_. She and Jehan had always had a very affectionate relationship; it was common for one to kiss the other on the cheek or sit on their lap. Neither minded as they both thrived on the affection they gave.

But that thought was completely different from anything before it. Affection with Jehan came naturally and she never had to think about it. When he was happy he would kiss her cheek and when she was stressed he would crash on her couch with her and they would cuddle. Actively thinking about kissing him isn't something she has ever thought about before.

She looked at him again at the same moment he finished his dandelion anklet and smiled adorably at her and Cosette smiled back. She was forming a thought about what that warm feeling in her heart was, but she was going to finish it later when she wasn't in the immediate area of the focus of it.

-x-

A week passed and Cosette decided it was now or never. On the good side, her and Jehan would go out on a date and then get married and live happily ever after. On the bad side, he didn't reciprocate her feelings and the air between the two would be awkward forever. She needed to say what she needed to say as soon as possible, or she never would.

She was meeting up again with Jehan at the park and she strut through it, preoccupied with her thoughts. She banished any negative ones from her head and tried to concentrate on flowers and puppy dogs and Jehan's smile and _what if he says no_?

"Oh, be quiet you." She muttered to herself.

She got to their area and froze seeing Jehan there already_. It's like a band aid_, she thought with determination, _do it quickly so it doesn't hurt as bad_. With that thought, she squared her shoulders and sat down next to him.

Jehan gave a quick, confused smile at her strange entrance, but quickly looked back down at his book, which, judging from the shiny cover and crisp pages was new.

She took a quick breathe and looked right at him. Sensing her gaze he looked back up, confusion written all over his face.

"So, Jehan. I like you as more than a friend and think that we should go out sometime."

Cosette had thought extensively over what she should say to him. She had decided it best to be as blunt as possible so her message wouldn't get mixed up.

She was pretty sure it didn't when Jehan blushed and his eyes went wide. "Oh, um," he carefully bookmarked his page and stared right back at her. "I think that would be wonderful."

"Really?"

"Of course. Were you expecting me to say no to going on a date with you?"

He seemed honestly baffled that she would think this and Cosette wondered if maybe he had realized all those feelings earlier but kept silent. This thought made something in Cosette ache and she shook her head. She didn't like that feeling. A grin sprung onto her lips when she thought of the best way to get rid of any sadness.

Leaning forward she pressed a quick kiss to his lips. They were together for barely a second before she pulled back, but both of them were blushing, and it wasn't long until they drew together again.

**AN: Whee! My first les mis fic, first completed story (cough), and my first romance story! Also it's the last day of school, so yay summer is here! This was my attempt at romance and I feel like I did ok? I wanted to see if I could, and I did maybe a bit so I'm happy. **

**Much, much, much thanks to my panda (mashirok on tumblr) for helping me **_**a lot**_** throughout this. Like, she helped more than you could ever know. **

**Also, forgot to mention this but, the title, Pink Carnations, in flower language one of the meanings of a pink carnation is 'I'll never forget you' which I found fitting as, even though they get separated for a while once they're reunited they're just as close as ever. : )**


End file.
